Movies
[Review] Supernatural Slasher ‘Seance’ Attempts to Go Old School With No Frills Murder Mystery
High school-set slasher releases in theaters and on VOD May 21st.
High school is hell. Navigating the social hierarchy and adolescence can be downright brutal, which makes sense as to why so many slashers take place there. The latest to use high school as slaying grounds is Seance, the directorial debut by Simon Barrett (V/H/S, V/H/S2, You’re Next, The Guest). Barrett takes an old-school approach to his supernaturally charged murder mystery, but its no frills horror might be rendered a little too simplistic.
After a late-night prank ends in a shocking death, the student’s vacancy leaves a rare opening at the prestigious Edelvine Academy for Girls. It allows new student Camille (Suki Waterhouse) to enroll, though she’s assigned the only space available, the recently deceased’s dorm room. When Camille runs afoul of the former student’s clique, led by bully Alice (Inanna Sarkis), she realizes that hazing may not be the worst issue she’ll have to contend with as a haunting coincides with a rising body count.
Barrett, who also wrote the screenplay, spends most of the focus on the whodunnit angle of the narrative. That means that beyond Camille, nice girl Helina (Ella-Rae Smith), and superstitious lead bully Alice, telling the other characters apart gets a little tricky. They’re all varying shades of mean girl without any depth. Alice only stands apart because she’s so quick to throw punches; these mean girls jump from catty behavior to violence within seconds.
Considering most of the characters are fodder for the killer, the lack of personality feels par for the course of a retro slasher. The downside here, though, is that most of the kills happen off-screen. For his first directorial outing, Barrett makes some unusual and sometimes jarring shot composition choices and cuts, often highlighted in scenes that stage off-screen kills. A victim carries about her nightly routine, unaware she’s being stalked. The camera randomly cuts to a closeup of her shoulder in the middle of her prep work, mere moments before focus falls to her feet as she’s dispatched out of frame.
When Barrett does show the kills, it’s satisfying. The back half picks up speed, and the finale sparks to life with bloodletting, brutality, and humor. It’s precisely the type of thing you’d expect from Barrett based on his previous team-ups with director Adam Wingard, albeit a little too expected. The mystery is sufficient, offering the perfect number of layered clues and red herrings and its final reveal works. There’s not an ounce of fat here, and everything serves a purpose.
The not-so-secret weapon of Barrett’s debut is Waterhouse. Waterhouse’s understated and sometimes dry use of humor works well here and keeps Camille interesting despite a familiar formula. The subtle physical cues that something’s different about Camille piques curiosity long before the more overt signs arrive. The way Waterhouse plays off of Smith, and their growing bond, helps thaw some of the ice created by a bevy of one-note mean girls. Barrett keeps consistent in his penchant for writing tough girls in disguise. Waterhouse makes for a formidable final girl with an impressive ability to take a punch or two.
Seance attempts to harken back to the supernatural slasher of yesterday, including an uncomplicated plot. Waterhouse and a thrilling final act go far in creating entertainment, but enjoyment primarily hinges on how much you invest in the whodunit aspect. Most of the deaths are bland, and the victims even blander. Visually, it can be a bit of a mixed bag too. Still, the taut writing, Waterhouse, and bursts of lively violence give this high school-set slasher a passing grade.
Seance releases in theaters and on VOD on May 21.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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